Gabby Williams has been doing Gabby Williams things all year for Fenerbahçe in EuroLeague Women. The France international has made the tough stuff look easy and the easy stuff matter. As the Final Six tips off in Zaragoza this week, she brings the kind of star presence that Europe’s premier women’s basketball competition could use a bit more of.
Fenerbahce arrive in Zaragoza this week as the clear favourites. Unbeaten through the EuroLeague Women season, the Turkish side is stacked with top-tier talent. While the pressure of expectation firmly on their shoulders as they seek a threepeat, few doubt them.
Beyond the raw basketball talent, of which Fener are utterly stacked, one player stands out for her ability to match on court ability with crossover appeal. Gabby Williams brings a much needed dash of star power beyond the competition’s confines that Euroleague Women badly needs.
At a time when the WNBA’s prioritisation rule forces players to choose between international seasons and league deadlines, it’s the likes of Williams who carry both the pressure and the potential of what Euroleague Women can become.
The basketball impact
Fenerbahce are rather good. They were good before Gabby Williams joined the side this past summer. When you can count the likes of Emma Messeman, Tina Charles, and Nyara Sabally among your roster, you’re going to do well even if you don’t have a player like Williams.
Still, she has impressed mightily this campaign in Istanbul. Williams is a finalist for both MVP and Defensive player of the year in Euroleague Women. She’s averaging 14.1 points per game along with 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.8 steals. In short, she’s a rather do-everything basketball player at the top level of the sport.
This versatility means that even though Fenerbahce would likely be favoured without her, she makes life a lot easier for the defending champions. This is a clearly defined star baller on the best side on the continent.
Relevance in the prioritisation era
Williams is part of an increasingly rare group of ballers. Once the WNBA introduced its prioritisation clause, mandating players to put it ahead of all other international commitments, the sport changed. What Euroleague Women could always claim, although it never did it loudly enough, was that the best women basketball players on the planet played in it.
Now, things have changed and the impact has been blindingly obvious. Breanna Stewart, who lit up the title game two seasons ago, is no longer a presence in Euroleague Women. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will likely never don the jersey of a club on this side of the Atlantic.
Williams still plays on both sides of the Atlantic. Once she wraps up with Fenerbahce, she’ll rejoin the Seattle Storm. As a French-American, she also has commercial appeal in multiple markets. While Messeman is arguably the better player overall, Williams has the higher ceiling for crossover appeal.
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A balancing act
The salary Gabby Williams can earn with Fenerbahce is, naturally, higher than what the Storm can pay her in the WNBA. The Euroleague Women champions don’t have to worry about a salary cap, merely instead on their own resources.
That doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. The revenue a player with the crossover appeal of Williams goes far beyond what she gets paid to play basketball. Endorsement income is the obvious difference maker, especially in elite women’s sports at present.
Being both French and American puts her in an unusual spot. Maximising her endorsement revenue has, at least for now, not required her to really choose between Europe and the WNBA. That makes her an exception rather than the rule but it’s one that Euroleague Women should lean into with its marketing.
The broader situation
Gabby Williams being an exception somewhat distracts from the core issues. Europe has been really poor at embracing the commercial potential of women’s basketball. Granted, the US wasn’t exactly good at it for decades but this continent really ought to start trying to ride that wave of momentum.
There is potential for a more flexible arrangement to come about with the next CBA in the WNBA. Given the presence of alternatives like Unrivalled now, WNBA players are still seeking ways to make more money playing outside of their regular competition window.
Still, Euroleague Women shouldn’t just assume that things might change back. Fenerbahce have stars right now that can be built around but their own dominance is almost the issue. Everyone assumes they are going to walk it in Zaragoza. The real worry however isn’t that they threepeat, it’s that if they somehow don’t it still doesn’t generate a buzz. There are so many natural narratives to build off for Euroleague Women yet the marketing budget required to exploit that simply isn’t there.
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But back to Gabby
The solutions to all of Euroleague Women’s growth may not be in the hands of Gabby Williams but the competition can still learn from here. The Fenerbahce star is a player with personality, with dual citizenship, and a charisma that appeals to a wider market.
She makes more people want to pay attention to what she’s doing. That’s an enormous asset for a sport that wants to be in growth mode. In basketball, she’s got a balancing act between Europe and the WNBA. Off the court, how she manages that will impact her ability to maximise income.
The sport as a whole will likely benefit more from a more collaborative view from both sides of the Atlantic. This will require enormous player input as well. Learning what makes a Gabby Williams work is a good starting point.
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